Lyrics
IntroThe morning bell was cold and slow,
It called us where the black winds blow.
We crossed the yard without a sound,
For one last journey underground.
Verse 1The cage went down through timbered stone,
Past levels carved by hands now gone.
My father’s mark was on the wall,
Still dark with smoke beside the fall.
The cables groaned, the lanterns swayed,
We knew each beam our fathers laid.
No man looked back, no word was found,
As iron carried us beneath the ground.
ChorusWhen we rise with the last cage at sundown,
Leave one lamp for the mountain below.
Let it burn where the old roads are fading,
Where the deep hidden black waters flow.
When the wheel and the hammer fall silent,
When no fire wakes the valley again,
We will walk from the gates in the twilight,
But the stone will remember our names.
Verse 2We drilled the face as we had done,
Though every man knew work was done.
The hammer rang, the powder burned,
The mountain shook, the darkness turned.
We filled the cars with final ore,
Then swept the dust across the floor.
No one would leave his labour small,
No careless hand would mark the fall.
InterludeThe driller at the eastern seam.
The timberman beside the beam.
The boy who watched the winding wheel.
The smith who taught the fire to kneel.
The keeper of the furnace flame.
The widow who still spoke his name.
The men who entered, young and strong.
The men who never came along.
Verse 3The cage came up through shafts of night,
And slowly found the evening light.
The pines stood black against the red,
The sun sank low above the head.
Old Erik turned and raised his hand,
As though the dark could understand.
Then one by one we crossed the ground,
While dusk lay softly all around.
ChorusWhen we rose with the last cage at sundown,
We left one lamp for the mountain below.
Still it burns where the old roads are fading,
Where the deep hidden black waters flow.
Now the wheel and the hammer lie silent,
And no fire wakes the valley again.
We have walked from the gates in the twilight,
But the stone still remembers our names.
CodaI closed the gate and turned the key,
The yard lay still as winter sea.
No bell, no chain, no engine’s flame.
And the mountain heard its silence again.